London, 13-15 September 1884 

Dear Ede, 

I have been back here a fortnight (all but).?”7’? During my ab- 
sence Eisengarten was supposed to be making a fair copy of that part 
of the ms. of Part II° that was ready. The great heat, however, led 
him, now to dawdle, now to write so beautifully, if so slowly and so 
little, that I dare not send what has been done to Meissner because 
I would not be able to follow it up quickly enough. So that puts paid 
for the present to early publication; what Meissner will do now, 
I don’t know. In some respects I’m not sorry, for in this way I can be 

* See present edition, Vol. 26, p. 238.-° An allusion to two traditional German airs. - 
© the second volume of Capital 

all the more certain that nothing will have to be done in too much of 
a hurry. 

What you say about the translation of my pamphlet’ is all very 
well. But how does Lafargue translate? He consults neither his wife 
nor the dictionary; he does everything on his own, decrees that such 
and such a German word is so and so in French, and then, proud of 
his masterpiece, sends me the ms. I could do it just as well myself. He, 
of course, wants to set to at once however, nous verrons ce que nous ver- 
rons.” As for an English version, Aveling has enough on his hands for 
the time being,° and also proposes to translate my Entwicklung.“ But 
what publisher will pay for it? And in his position he can’t do more un- 
paid work than he already does. Nor is there any particular hurry 
about this. Our prime concern must be to put Capital into English, 
and that will give us work and to spare. 

I was greatly tickled by the way you took Bahr and Fabian, not to 
mention friend Gumbel, to task over the stock exchange taxes 78° (I 
always know my Gumbel, whether he’s vindicating his respectable 
toping companions, the Heilbronn philistines, or whatever). In Bahr 
and Fabian you have two fine examples of German ‘erudition’, some- 
thing I am always glad to see harshly taken to task. One aims at Bahr 
the blow intended for Geiser. What particularly pleased me, how- 
ever, was the way you struck home, putting emphasis on essential 
points, and also your verve. 

Now I must break off; I can only spend a short time sitting at my 
desk. I took some cold sea-baths that did me more harm than good. 
Till tomorrow then. 

14 September. I returned the ms. of Poverty!! to you last week, 
4 September, by registered post, together with my comments. I pre- 
sume you received it. When you [and Kautsky] compare my amend- 
ments with the original you will find that certain turns of speech had 
not, in fact, been correctly understood (in some cases I have made 
comments), but that is inevitable unless one has spent a good deal of 
time in the country concerned. 

I have at last been able to get hold of a copy of my enlarged photo- 
graph for the artist*“— I forget his name and have mislaid his letter — 
@ Clearly The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.-” we shall see what 
we shall see-° Aveling was translating into English the first volume of Ca- 
pital (see also Note 56).-? Socialism: Utopian and Scientific-* Karl Manz- 
Schappi 

who wishes to make a colour-print of Marx.’ I shall send it to you to- 
morrow or the day after. 

Since the present elections will have a major impact'’* we 
must all make an effort and so I am sending you herewith a money 
order for £25 for the election fund. 

Sorge has sent me Gronlund’s The Cooperative Commonwealth; his ex- 
pose of theory rather flat after Marx’s, but comprehensible to philis- 
tines; the main object is, apparently, to present his model of the future 
as true GERMAN socialism, but I found it too boring to read. Marx is not 
quoted, the only reference to him being sucu woazz Jews as Marx ano 
Lassate\ Crikey! 

Under Hyndman’s direction TYo-Day gets worse and worse. To 
make it more interesting they accept anything and everything. The 
editor has written to me saying that the October issue will contain 
a critique of Capital!!," and invites me to reply—which I refused 
with thanks.?°° Thus a socialist organ has turned into an organ in 
which the pros and cons of socialism are discussed by every Tom, 
Dick and Harry. 

I am sending you a Kélnische from which you may see what 
methods are used in Africa even by Stanley-Leopold of Belgium’s 
humane, civilising Association Internationale.?°'! Then what may 
we not expect of the Portuguese and French,— not to speak of our 
flog °em-and-shoot ’em Prussians—when they get going? Come to 
that, Bismarck has pulled off a thundering good electoral coup with 
that colonial racket of his.2°? Not a philistine will be spared, they’ll fall 
for it en masse. No doubt he will again succeed in obtaining a double 
majority of his own choosing— Conservatives ?7%° + National 
liberals ?*%, or should the latter again prove peevish, Conservatives + 
the Centre.??° It’s all one to us. 

If I have the time, I shall enclose a line or two for Karl Kautsky. 

Your 

P..' Bi 

15 September. No time, K.K. will have to wait a bit.